REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY: Love’s Forbidden Flower by Diane Rinella

Lily nurtures a secret love for a flawless man—the one who is her soul mate. Donovan is gorgeous, charismatic, and delights in all of Lily’s talents and quirks. Their innate knowledge of each other is almost telepathic. Together they interlock like fine threads creating luxurious silk.

But society dictates this picture-perfect adoration is the ghastliest of all possibilities.

As Lily embarks on a quest for the romance the heavens intended, her suitor turns reluctant. Desperate to uncover why Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hiding decayed from a tender-hearted gentleman into a ferociously self-serving, cocky bastard, Lily is prepared for battle when it comes to the salvation of her soul mate. However, Donovan traps Lily in a mental game of chess, leaving her to question his sanity. When Lily’s revelations about Donovan’s destructive alter ego lead to an unconceivable truth, can she help Donovan survive fate’s cruel joke?

Where to start…well, first of all, if I had known this book was about incest, I would never had joined the tour. So I am very glad I didn’t know that when I signed up for the tour because I would’ve missed out on a great story. A truly sad story where all solutions suck.

Love’s Forbidden Flower is a love story between Lily and Donovan. They are brother and sister. And they are truly, one hundred percent, in love with each other. They are, as Lily says several times in the book, soul mates. And they are, from the time they figure out they love each other in a way that is not “normal”, tormented by their feelings, by their denial, and by their longing for the one person on earth who completes their missing half.

They try to push it away, they really do. But anyone who’s been in love with the wrong person knows, you can’t turn it off.

Even though Lily comes off as the strong one, the one who was always willing to say screw society, Donovan, be my one true love – when she decides to move on, she chooses men who are the complete opposite of Donovan. While Donovan, faking his attempt at moving on with a “normal” life, chooses a girl who could be Lily’s twin.

I thought that part showed a lot about the inner workings of these characters.

This is a book worth reading if only for the love story. It’s heart-wrenching and I couldn’t imagine going through this experience because it rips their lives apart. And the characters explain what’s happening to them far better than I ever could…

Here’s a quote where Donovan is explaining how he was feeling in a journal:

“Lily, I’m the stupidest idiot on the universe. I thought if I moved on would be ok buts not true. Tried to love someone dinot realize she was like you until everyone laughed. Everyone thinks I’m joke.”

Lilly speaks to God near the end, pleading for some relief:

“God, I accept it, but it’s unfair…I ask that you help us through this so that we can be together in a way that makes us both happy and fulfilled. But please, Lord, in the next lifetime, spare us this issue. Either bring us together properly or give us time apart. But please, never let us repeat this hell.”

I hope the next book is almost ready, because there’s a hint of paranormal at the end of the description, and that really intrigues me…

“For centuries Donovan has stolen Lily’s heart while forced to suffer for his love. How much can a soul endure before the breaking point is reached and a monster emerges?”

I wavered between four and five stars, but this book was so unique that I’m giving it five. And I literally stayed up all night to read it.

Enjoying San Francisco as a backdrop, the ghosts in Diane’s 150-year old Victorian home augment the chorus in her head.

With insomnia as their catalyst, these voices have become multifarious characters that haunt her well into the sun’s crowning hours, refusing to let go until they have manipulated her into succumbing to their whims.

Wonderful review, Julie! I’m really glad I didn’t pass on reading it as well. It is such a moving story. And I love your quotes – they really do describe how Lily and Donovan felt about their love. *sniff*